High-Quality Tactile Paintings

Abstract

The aim of this work is to bring the cultural heritage of two-dimensional art closer to being accessible by blind and visually impaired people. We present a computer-assisted workflow for the creation of tactile representations of paintings, suitable to be used as a learning tool in the context of guided tours in museums or galleries. Starting from high-resolution images of original paintings, our process allows an artist to quickly design the desired form, and generate data suitable for rapid prototyping machines to produce the physical touch tools. Laser-cut layered depth diagrams, convey not only the individual objects in the painting and their spatial layout, but also augment their depth relations. CNC-milled textured reliefs additionally render fine details like brush strokes and texture suitable for the sense of touch. Our methods mimic aspects of the visual sense, make sure that the haptic output is quite faithful to the original paintings and do not require special manual abilities, like sculpting skills.